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| IkariDC 440th Post
 
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|  "Art Futura 2005" , posted Wed 16 Nov 05:23
Art Futura is a Spanish festival which focuses on everything related to digital creation and digital entertainment, the 16th edition was held in Barcelona on the 27-30 of October.
Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido where there on the 30th to officially anounce Shadow of the Colossus in Spain, as part of their European tour promoting the game. But not only that, Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Toshio Iwai where also there giving lectures on their past and present works.
I was in Barcelona those days because of another event, but there was no way I could miss such a thing! So I attended the event with MMCafe member Sensenic, a MMCafe lurker that promised he was going to start posting after we met (liar!), and a friend of mine.
If you are interested in the event and want to see some pictures and videos, here is a pack I've just uploaded, so you can start downloading it while you're reading the review, or whatever you feel like doing!
Thanks to Takumi Fuyiwara's post in his blog for most of the pictures and videos related to Tetsuya Mizuguchi. He just happened to take pictures while I was waiting for my copy of Rez to be signed!
Thanks also to MeriStation for their interview with Fumito Ueda, most of the pictures I uploaded were taken from their interview.
Fumito Ueda & Kenji Kaido, Sony Team ICO: Space & Scale. From "ICO" to "Shadow of the Colossus".
Ok, so we were lucky enough to get the tickets right before the show started, and we still could get some excellent seats, just 3 rows away from the guests. It almost felt like being face to face, so close that I got my copy of Rez signed by Mizuguchi!
Victoly!
The lecture was given by Fumito Ueda & Kenji Kaido in japanese, while a young lad was translating back to spanish right away, just after every explanation in japanese was finished. Taking pictures and recording was forbidden in this one.
The lecture focused on the game design of both ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. In both games, they started doing a movie that contained the overall idea and feeling that the finished game should have. We were told about design, scenario, how they felt about using the music, and how the puzzles should fit in the game. They started obviously with ICO, they showed us all those pre-production videos from when the game was going to be a PlayStation release, and the different incarnations on PS2 until the final build of the game.
Shadow of the Colossus followed, and we were told about it's design, always comparing it with ICO's own design, which things were done the same way, and most of the time, what things were done in a different manner. They also told us about the different techniques they developed for Shadow of the Colossus, like the "Organic Collision Deformation" and the "Seamless Field". The first one is about how the main character reacts to the Colossus' movements while he is climbing it, and the second one is about how the field is being generated as you travel trough it, so there aren't any loading screens or any of that kind of stuff. Most of the videos that were shown from both games were taken from the extra DVD you could get preordering Wanda to Kyozou in Japan, a pretty cool bonus item indeed. As a sidenote, we learned who or what "Wanda" was, looking at a character picture they showed in the huge screen, when the main character appeared labeled as "The Wonderer".
After the lecture was over, we were treated to the game's intro, and then the questioning and answering with the audience followed. The questions were asked in spanish to the translator, they were translated back to japanese and so on. The translator did a flawless work, translating back and forth non stop and without a pause. The questions that sticked the most were the kind of "How do you feel after releasing Shadow of the Colossus, or what are you thinking of doing after it?". The answer was that he feels like it still hasn't been finished, that the game was just released in Japan and that he still doesn't know how well the game is doing in term of sales, so he doesn't have a clue of what's going to do next. A funny one: "After doing ICO, did Sony pressure you in any way while Shadow of the Colossus was in the making?". Ueda answered "He (pointing at Kenji Kaido) was the pressure. Sony gave us all the freedom we wanted".
Their time finished, and after being signing stuff for a crowded group of fans, they left. Too bad, because both Mizuguchi and Iwai were there for the whole event, giving access to whoever would want to come to speak or to sign games, etc.
Tetsuya Mizuguchi: The experience of playing with sound and light. From Rez to Lumines.
This one was given in english only. Mizuguchi's speech was a bit engrishy sometimes, but overall great. It was very easy to understand him. He began speaking about the theory behind the sinestesia, mentioning Kandinsky, etc. and how this concept and a research video from Afrika was the inspiration behind Rez. The video showed some people in the street, doing music with instruments like bottles or drums, singing and dancing. Mizuguchi explained that he was very interested in this kind of groove, one man starting everything by doing some sounds with a bottle, then someone else following with another, until all the people that was around was contributing with something.
Then, Mizuguchi showed us some videos of the different stages of development of the game. He also showed us a video were he was playing Rez at the Playstation Party 2001 in Shibuya. It was the turn of Lumines now. He told us that he wanted to continue exploring the concept of sinestesia on games, so he choose the PSP for his next game because of it's large screen.
He switched on a PSP with Lumines, and we could see on the screen what he was doing. It seems that he was playing the american or the european version of Lumines because he pressed the circle button when he was going to select a game mode and he went back to the title screen! Everybody started laughing and clapping, while Mizuguchi was saying "Please, don't!". So, we could se Mizuguchi playing Lumines for a while. I guess that he's good, it seemed that he was about to lose, and in a brief moment he build a combo that cleared a lot of the squares. We won't know if he later lost on purpouse to continue with the speech or if he really lost the game.
"This is my latest work on Xbox 360". Of course he was talking about 99 Nights. I remember there was some kind of joke with the audience there (something about Microsoft), but I don't remember what was it. We were treated to see the trailer of the game, and the lecture ended.
Time for questions and answers again! I only remember the funny questions. One question was:
- How do you feel knowing that Rez is the most sold game of it's system, in this case, the DreamCast, after it's downfall?
- Is it? (laughs)
- Yeah, it gets quite pricy on ebay".
- How much?
- Around 200€
- Wow!
Another quite funny question was from a guy that had a really hard time doing the question in english. Bear in mind that this is Spain! The guy was really a fan, and he was painfully trying to make the question, but it was becoming larger and larger, until somewhere in the end, the point was lost, and when he finished, Mizuguchi was puzzled, so he nodded back and said "Yeah", and the next question took place (there were lots of laughs on this one).
Living objects, sensible spaces: Toshio Iwai, "Interactive sounding objects"
This lecture was not going to start after a while, so in the meantime, we played some 8 player Bomberman DS matches. It seemed like everybody surrounding us had a DS, so I asked if someone had Ossu! Tatakae! Ouendan. One person told me he got it that day, and I was carrying 2 copies of the game myself, but in the end we didn't get to play it, what a shame!
The lecture was going to begin, it was going to be in english, but this time around they were offering a device with headphones, for listening to a translator in spanish. You had to show your ID card to get one. My friend got his device, so he told me that the translation was done as Iwai was speaking, because the translator was laughing all the time. Yeah, that's right, this lecture was THE BEST one.
Iwai started introducing himself, he has quite a funny voice while he talks in english, but once again, he was good at it and it was extremely easy to understand him. So, he started talking about himself and about his works from the very beginning. The first picture he showed us was the white text "1962" over a black background. "This year is very important because it's the year I was born" (laughs). He continued showing us pictures from when he was a child, always doing funny comments about them. He showed us pictures of a drawer he doodled all over the place, even from the back! It was priceless. "One day, my mom told me that she wasn't buying me more toys, so I had to learn how to build them on my own". He started showing us pictures of the toys he built and the books he used. "These are very important to me". They were some textbooks with drawings on the corners, and when the books where flipped, they showed a funny animation, like a bee doing a "henshin" pose, etc. Another important thing for him was a book that explained how to build things, but it was manga! Another important thing he showed us was the picture of a Famicom, some people including us cheered on that one.
So you get the idea of how this one was turning out, we were laughing and clapping like every 5 minutes or so. He started showing us more serious stuff, like videos of his first animation attemps and related devices such us zoetropes. In fact, he showed us his entire career, so it's pretty hard to remember everything. He showed us some kind of a Famicom proyect he developed. It showed the sky at night, and you could put stars up using a pointer. When clicking over a "play" button, a line crossed the screen from left to right, playing the notes that the stars represented by it's position. Later he showed another proyect for the Super Famicom that involved 4 bugs wondering around the screen. Each bug had a different behavior, and you could select from the bottom of the screen squares with different colors. Each of these squares had a different effect, and when a square was placed on the screen, and a bug encountered it, it sounded. We could see a little demostration of the different patterns and melodies that could be done. It was quite entertaining. One of the first attemps of combining images and sounds outside the videogames were many works he did with a piano. When the piano was played, the notes were translated into different shaped images on a screen, and also, images translated from the notes played on a piano bouncing into another piano that played back the exact same melody. We could see video performances of Iwai and famous piano player Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Another device he showed us was a walkman that instead of playing music, it played sounds depending on the light that was reflected in the device. We could see a video of Iwai wondering in the streets of Tokyo at night, trying different light sources. While it was a really curious thing to see and listen to, most of the time it was generating non pleasant sounding stuff. Of course he also talked about electroplankton, and whe shaw the previous works on which most of the parts of elektroplankton are based. He told us that, when Nintendo DS was released, he was approached bu Nintendo because they wanted him to make a game that could show every feature that the DS has to offer. We were told that the game was developed in just 3 months, and that he is working on the european version of the game (Yay!).
"Elektroplankton was a game I designed upon Nintendo's request, I just developed the software and Nintendo developed the hardware. I wanted to design both things, so with the help of Yamaha I'm developing Tenori-On".
This was the uhhh it's ok to call it flyer? that Iwai handed when the lecture was over:
Image from the outside
Image from the inside
He showed us the second prototype. As you can see, it's a 16 x 16 matrix panel with LEDs that can be operated by touching it or/and by pressing it. It has many many functions, sets of instruments and methods of creating and building melodies. Depending on the selected function, when touching the panel you can see different light reactions, from both sides of the device. You can see a little video sample on the pack I uploaded, but it's from another event, and it can't compare IN ANY WAY, to the jaw dropping performance that Toshio Iwai offered us. It was brilliant, marvelous, should I add, and I'm still short on compliments. I can't put into words what we could see, and too bad that I couldn't find a video of the performance. Hopefully you will get to see it in the future. When the performance ended, everybody was standing up, clapping and cheering wildy. Before the performance, Iwai stated that designing a digital instrument and performing with it in front of people was his dream come true.
I don't quite remember the questions that were asked to him, what I remember is that he kept talking and talking, and listening to him was a pleasure. It was clear that they had to cut him and finish the event.
Hopefully, next year they will bring more of this tallented and entertaining guests like these, I should be there again if that happens.
Sensenic and Miguel, now it's your time to write your impressions, and for adding whatever I might have forgotten. Miguel, it's also time for you to stop lurking and to start posting in the board!
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| Sensenic 1394th Post
Red Carpet Executive Member
   
    
| "Re(1):Art Futura 2005" , posted Wed 16 Nov 07:02:
Yoohoo!  Impressive article, Ikari! And you asked why didn't I post anything... I could've never come up with a summary half as good and complete as that!
Shall I start then:
quote:
It almost felt like being face to face, so close that I got my copy of Rez signed by Mizuguchi!
Might as well add:
...I got my, specially bought for the event that very same morning, Japanese copy of Rez...
You sir, rock. Los tienes así de grandes! 
quote:
As a sidenote, we learned who or what "Wanda" was, looking at a character picture they showed in the huge screen, when the main character appeared labeled as "The Wonderer".
 Actually, "Wander" (Engrish for Wanderer, gotta guess) -> Wandaa
Sensenic Inc. -> We've got the Ass comment always ready for you!
I want to add this IMO really cool comment they (actually, Ueda) made: in Ico, to make it more realistic whatsoever they took out the lifebars and so, and turned it into a character, that is, the girl -> She was the lifebar for the main character.
With Wanda/Colossus, while this one does have lifebar, they've done the same with another usual indicator, they said, the map, which has taken form of the horse (does it know where you have to go or sth like that? Me hast not played it).
Another funny thing were the people congratulating Fumito Ueda because they really loved SotC... while it still hadn't (hasn't?) been released here in Spain ^_^; No, they probably didn't import...
On the rest:
quote:
Then, Mizuguchi showed us some videos of the different stages of development of the game. He also showed us a video were he was playing Rez at the Playstation Party 2001 in Shibuya.
Must add, they're both in the downloadable package.
quote:
This lecture was not going to start after a while, so in the meantime, we played some 8 player Bomberman DS matches. It seemed like everybody surrounding us had a DS, so I asked if someone had Ossu! Tatakae! Ouendan. One person told me he got it that day, and I was carrying 2 copies of the game myself, but in the end we didn't get to play it, what a shame!
Also, the same guy had a Jump SuperStars, and we didn't play it either. Darnit!
quote:
You can see a little video sample on the pack I uploaded, but it's from another event, and it can't compare IN ANY WAY, to the jaw dropping performance that Toshio Iwai offered us. It was brilliant, marvelous, should I add, and I'm still short on compliments.
I friggin' second that sooo much. A shame we don't have that... Wonderful... Amazing... Et caetera.
And now, the add ons...
- Ikari, I just CAN'T believe you forgot about sth involving your friend, Ghibli Studio, Osamu Tezuka and Mizuguchi's family.  So, since maybe you decided not to post it for some reason, I'll avoid that for now.
- Another thing: Before the conferences started, when people found out about Tetsuya Mizuguchi being right there and started asking him for autographs and such (IkariDC included, as you can see in some of the photos)... while everybody took out Rez's, Lumines's and Space Channel 5's... this guy came down with his Dreamcast in his hands and gave him to sign it. When we noticed it... Two words: General applause.
- To put more emphasis on it, I must say that in Iwai's conference there was indeed laughing after each and every image he showed from his childhood which evolved, altogether with his "growth", to awe and applause after each and every performance video he showed us. At first, since I knew scrap about the man, I thought it was a little vain of him to tell us the story of his life, but, in the end, I had learned the lesson. He is a genius indeed.
And, well, that'd be it for now. It's late here... Hopefully we'll find Mizuguchi's live Lumines play video, Iwai's Elektroplankton demo and, most specially, Iwai's Tenori-on demo video.
Deidara. I just loved that face. XD
Listen to them - the children of the night. What music they make! Dracula
[this message was edited by Sensenic on Wed 16 Nov 07:03] |
| IkariDC 441th Post
Gold Customer
| "Re(2):Art Futura 2005" , posted Thu 17 Nov 04:31
Thanks, glad to see that it was worth writing it! But I find it really amusing that only Spanish people are showing up there.
Welcome to the board Arngrim! Yeah I also want to know where does that nick come from.
Thanks for your additions, I didn't leave things on purpouse, but now that you mention them, we can't discuss them!
Let's see... Yeah, I bought my Rez copy that very same morning, and I unsealed it just to get it signed. I was going to bring my american copy os Space Channel 5 Special Edition, but when I was at home I thought it was going to be hard to get it signed. Then, after speaking with you, Sensenic, I changed quickly my mind. I was going to buy the game anyways, it's just at 10€ at play-asia...
Oh yeah, I forgot about that one... Iwai's lecture was going to start and Txemaria, my friend, went down to speak with Mizuguchi. So he appeared in front of him, with Osamu Tezuka's "MW" manga in his hands, and he told him "Write here". Mizuguchi was along his wife and daughter, this one seemed to be quite bored, so my friend handed her a Susa-atari doll that he bought in the morning. She grabbed it with joy, Mizuguchi's wife laughed and Mizuguchi himself smiled.
Yeah, I also forgot about the guy that bringed his DreamCast to get it signed by Mizuguchi. It was a great thing.
Yes, we didn't knew much about Iwai, I was interested in getting Elektroplankton, but now I know I'm going to get it for sure, out of respect for this genius that Toshio Iwai is. I remember that there was a guy who was a fan of him and was talking with him in the beginning of the event, and he handed with one of those electroplankton stickers that he also gave at the end of his lecture, and he signed it for him.
Hayato: Yeah, maybe I should do that, if only it was the DC version... 
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| IkariDC 445th Post
Gold Customer
| "Re(4):Art Futura 2005" , posted Thu 17 Nov 07:29:
Failing in life for not playing Valkyrie Profile? Don't make me laugh! So, how many RPGs have you played besides this one and Xenogears?
Anyways, I've got plenty of RPGs that are screaming at me for a chance, some others that pray so I get to finish them. I can say that I lost interest in RPGs, it's not that I dislike them, it's just that I'm used to play another kind of games now. Those that you can pick and leave anytime.
I've got plenty of time to play RPGs now, it's just that I've gotta find a motivation... Right now the 2 RPGs that I want to play/finish are Xenogears, and DQ8 (which should arrive at home anytime soon).
Edit: Back on topic, yeah, Mizuguchi drew a ballon next to Ulala saying "Chu!", which is a very funny detail!
[this message was edited by IkariDC on Thu 17 Nov 07:39] |
| HAYATO 544th Post
New Red Carpet Member
| "Ikari fails in life twice" , posted Thu 17 Nov 21:43
quote:
Failing in life for not playing Valkyrie Profile? Don't make me laugh! So, how many RPGs have you played besides this one and Xenogears?
I only play the most exquisite, elitist and delightful ones, such as "Valkyrie Profile", "Legend of Mana" or "Xenogears". I also played "Saga Frontier 2" (I left it in the last dungeon, though) and tried "Legend Of Dragoon", "Final Fantasy 9" and "Tales of Eternia". I'm not going to bore you listing the RPGs I played in Saturn or the 16 bit systems, as it would take me lots of time to recall all of them...
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I can say that I lost interest in RPGs, it's not that I dislike them, it's just that I'm used to play another kind of games now. Those that you can pick and leave anytime.
Due to the game's structure and gameplay, "Valkyrie Profile" and "Legend of Mana" belong to the kind of those rare RPGs you can pick and leave whenever you want. you just ran out of excuses, dear Ikari... 
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I've got plenty of time to play RPGs now, it's just that I've gotta find a motivation...
You want a motivation? Try this : It'd be better for you to start playing VP, otherwise the next time I meet you in Abando, I'm gonna bitchslap your bald head along the whole train station!!
quote:
Right now the 2 RPGs that I want to play/finish are Xenogears, and DQ8 (which should arrive at home anytime soon).
So... you didn't play "Xenogears" either? then you fail at life twice. And knowing that, no matter if you started VP or not, you are going to be bitchslapped anyway!!
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| IkariDC 446th Post
Gold Customer
| "Re(1):Ikari fails in life twice" , posted Thu 17 Nov 23:26
quote:
Due to the game's structure and gameplay, "Valkyrie Profile" and "Legend of Mana" belong to the kind of those rare RPGs you can pick and leave whenever you want. you just ran out of excuses, dear Ikari...
They are still RPG games that take up many hours to complete, my point is still valid.
quote:
You want a motivation? Try this : It'd be better for you to start playing VP, otherwise the next time I meet you in Abando, I'm gonna bitchslap your bald head along the whole train station!!
Since you shave up your head now, just like me, is this a duel what you are throwing at me?
quote:
So... you didn't play "Xenogears" either? then you fail at life twice. And knowing that, no matter if you started VP or not, you are going to be bitchslapped anyway!!
I'm halfway through Xenogears and I really want to finish this one. Since I PAID for this game, you don't have the right to bitchslap me. It's funny to be threatened by a elitist wannabe that pirates the games he enjoys...
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| HAYATO 545th Post
New Red Carpet Member
| "IkariDC fails 3 times in a row" , posted Fri 18 Nov 01:44
quote:
They are still RPG games that take up many hours to complete, my point is still valid.
Yeah, but they aren't as long as Xenogears. In fact you can finish both in almost the same time you'll spend on Xenogears alone.
quote:
Since you shave up your head now, just like me, is this a duel what you are throwing at me?
Well, you can put it this way...although I wouldn't use this word to describe it, we don't play on the same league. I'm prettier!! 
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I'm halfway through Xenogears and I really want to finish this one. Since I PAID for this game, you don't have the right to bitchslap me.
This statement is rather false... I told you I was going to bitchslap you for not playing "Xenogears", paying for it has nothing to do with the reasons aforementioned.
Anyway, keeping in mind you played half the game, I'll hit you half the amount of times (or half the hard, what you prefer) 
quote:
It's funny to be threatened by a elitist wannabe that pirates the games he enjoys...
Sorry, but you failed again. I don't pirate the games, I just play the games you and our friends (yeah, they are YOUR friends as well, what a bunch of pirate bastards, huh?) lend me. In fact, even you had to admit before me that you downloaded and played (and even completed) some games before you bought them. The only difference between you and me is that I'm not willing to pay for something I've already obtained for free (apart from very few exceptions). If you need to buy those games to ease your sense of guilt or something like that is your problem, but don't try to fool other people with your petty morals.
And don't worry about me threatening you. Even in the case it wasn't a joke, I already know your worse threat is yourself, and no one can compete with that...
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
Cheer up, EMO kid !!!!    
End of Spoiler
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| IkariDC 447th Post
Gold Customer
| "Everything you think it's right is WRONG!" , posted Fri 18 Nov 03:09
quote:
Sorry, but you failed again. I don't pirate the games, I just play the games you and our friends (yeah, they are YOUR friends as well, what a bunch of pirate bastards, huh?) lend me. In fact, even you had to admit before me that you downloaded and played (and even completed) some games before you bought them. The only difference between you and me is that I'm not willing to pay for something I've already obtained for free (apart from very few exceptions). If you need to buy those games to ease your sense of guilt or something like that is your problem, but don't try to fool other people with your petty morals.
I know you're not talking serius about all this stuff! Dude, I thought we knew each other enough to know that.
Sure, label it the way you want, put all the silly excuses you might think, the thing is that you didn't pay for all those great games you have played. That only has a name, you know?
If I buy games or any other thing is because I like it, out of respect for their creators, and/or because I want to support them. The only person being fooled here is yourself, and I don't blame you for doing what you do, but cut already with all that crap you make up to justify piracy. Speak for yourself and don't get other people involved, everybody has been young and with a limited number of resources for buying or getting things, but your case has no match!
I'm very sorry that this discussion is taking place in this thread and not in a separate one, but it's too late now.
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| Maese Spt
79th Post
Occasional Customer
| "Re(2):Ikari fails in life twice" , posted Fri 18 Nov 05:12:
quote:
the thing is that you didn't pay for all those great games you have played. That only has a name, you know?
Yup, being smart, lol!
Anyway, on a more serious note, I think you should relax a bit and have fun in this thread, just as Hayato is doing. I can tell he really is enjoying himself, but you seem somewhat uneasy, dude. But maybe it´s just me.
Duh, we´re creating a spaniard ghetto here indeed...
EDIT: fucking spaniards
"At his coming the gods themselves are put to flight and the Buddhas vanish"
[this message was edited by Maese Spt on Fri 18 Nov 05:22] |
| IkariDC 448th Post
Gold Customer
| "Art Futura 2005" , posted Fri 18 Nov 05:40
quote:
Anyways, don't fight. Let's have a dring together instead 
Naaaa, we know each other, this is not a flame war. But Maese Sft. is right, I should have known how proud he is regarding this subject, and how much he enjoys this kind of discussions. He lured me into the trap!
Ok, so back on topic.
Sensenic, that's an awesome discovering! Many great pictures in hi-res! By the way, that signed Space Channel 5 cover with the "Chu!" balloon, I thought that I had it on the pack I uploaded but, well, I can't find it!
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